The Gauntlet
"The Gauntlet" is a series of rooms in Super Metroid, located in the area Crateria, to the upper left of the Landing Site. It contains many challenges within it, with many ways to go through them. The area is hidden by a wall of Bomb Blocks, and can therefore be fully completed as soon as the Bomb is acquired. However, it is considerably less difficult to do this with later upgrades such as the Power Bomb, Space Jump, and Screw Attack than without. Description The Gauntlet's entrance is on the upper left hand side of the Landing Site in Crateria, behind a wall that is made of Bomb Blocks. This area is considerably difficult to find without knowledge of its entrance's location, as it is behind a wall that looks completely inconspicuous, except for the fact that it is moreso flat than other walls in the area. All doors within the area are Blue Doors, meaning that the area is fully open once the Bomb is acquired. The first room is very "wavy" on the floor and ceilings, with the crests of the waves being pillars of Bomb Blocks that must be bombed while in midair. Between most of the pillars are Yapping Maws, on the floors, or ceiling, and a few Wavers as well. While navigating the room, there is rising and falling scalding-hot lava that will kill Samus very quickly if she lacks the proper equipment; this type of lava is the same substance seen mostly in Ridley's Hideout. The following room still contains lava, but there is a Chozo Statue holding an Energy Tank. In front on the statue are reappearing Bomb Blocks that lead to behind the statue, where there is a thin wall, this time made of Fake Blocks. Behind this wall is an area similar to the first room, with Bomb Blocks, but this time with spikes on the ceiling, limiting Samus's mobility and ability to destroy the pillars safely, without falling into the lava. Beyond this is a more technological looking area, with spikes on the ceiling, and only a few platforms to stand on. These platforms are slightly too short to fully protect Samus from the lava. The far wall is suspicious as there are spikes facing each other, these spikes are actually disguised Bomb Blocks, and cause no damage when contacted. Behind this wall is an area with another Yapping Maw on the ceiling, and an area that spawns Zebs on the floor. The final room is unexpectedly an area above a room normally explored. This section of the room seems like a dead end, but a whole crevice can be cut out by shooting the Fake Blocks in front of Samus. The X-Ray Scope, or prior knowledge is required to properly navigate this area. Beneath the piles of fake blocks are two columns of Pit Blocks; Samus must jump directly in the middle in order to activate both columns and starts falling through them. Halfway down, there are two Missile Tanks, one on each side, each behind a wall of Fake Blocks, and each requiring their side's Pit Block column to also have been destroyed. The pit blocks above and below this area reappear, allowing little room for error. Both Missile Tanks can be collected in one go, but that usually requires precise timing and jumps. If Samus fails to collect one or both of the Missile Tanks, the entire gauntlet must be circumnavigated again in order to collect them. Below the final Pit Blocks is a small enclosed area: there are Bomb Blocks in the center of the floor, and on the walls. Both walls contain a Beetom within it, and bombing the bottom blocks will take Samus to a Morph Ball Passage, with Pit Blocks on the left, and Power Bomb Blocks, on the right, each leading to the same area, a room with Green Space Pirates. Trivia *The presence of Lower Norfair's lava in Crateria, the surface area of Zebes, suggests that the substance reached Crateria through an opening or breach created by diverging or converging of tectonic plates in a fashion similar to a volcano. Gallery SM Crateria Missile Tank 7 and 8.gif SM Crateria Energy Tank 2.gif Category:Crateria Category:Rooms